Members of Virginia's Roanoke College women's swim team spoke out Wednesday at a press conference attended by former Kentucky star swimmer Riley Gaines and said they feel deserted by their university and national officials after being forced to compete against biological men.
Just like in so many stories RedState has reported on before, the supposed adults in charge completely turned their backs on these women and seemingly had no regard for their well-being—all in the name of woke gender politics.
It’s astonishing that even after the feminist campaign and the #METOO movement, where females fought for their voices to be heard and demanded to be treated with equality, modern progressives now seem to be trying to erase the concept of womanhood altogether.
Imagine your daughter, sister, or mother was involved in sports but was suddenly forced to compete against biological males. Like Gaines—the 12-time all-American who watched the 6’1” biological male Lia Thomas win a national 500 freestyle race and be nominated for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award while Gaines herself felt “reduced to a photo op”—these ladies from Roanoke College had a woke agenda thrown at them and were told to just deal with it.
Female college athletes at a Virginia university held a press conference on Thursday after being forced to swim with a transgender woman.
The Roanoke College Women's Swim Team say they feel abandoned by their university and national officials after a former member of the men's team joined their squad last month. The case bears strong echoes to that of Lia Thomas, who last year became the first trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship.
In an event held with Riley Gaines and the Independent Women's Forum, the team demanded the NCAA and US Swimming stop allowing transgender women to compete in female sports.
Just as an aside, it bugs me to no end when outlets use the term "transgender women," like in the excerpt above. The Roanoke female swimmers are objecting to biological males competing against them, not women, transgender or otherwise.
✨Landmark day: Roanoke Swim Team stands unified in support of equal opportunities in sport for women & girls.
— ICONS (@icons_women) October 5, 2023
We are proud to share a stage with these inspiring young women in Virginia❣️
Watch them HERE https://t.co/cSc8deOd0p pic.twitter.com/mUmRQkTOKQ
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who many think should run for the GOP presidential nomination, issued a strong statement:
In Virginia, we are committed to fairness in women’s sports. I stand with the Roanoke College Swimmers in their efforts to seek an even playing field. Their request is reasonable, it’s common sense. https://t.co/QDUwuL9KnW
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) October 5, 2023
Although women and girl athletes were often pressured into silence in recent years, the dam is breaking. Perhaps it’s the indefatigable work of Gaines bringing this issue to national attention, or perhaps it’s because more and more people are waking up to the madness that’s really going on in this country. But these Roanoke women didn't hold back:
'I started swimming competitively when I was seven years old,' junior Susanna Price told the crowd. 'This year has been the first year of my life where swimming has been emotionally draining. Knowing that biological men are allowed to compete in sports has been the most disheartening experience of my life.'
Sophomore Carter Satterfield said: 'We are calling on the NCAA to protect female athletes and grant us fair sports - in every sport. We are calling on US Swimming to recognize that girls at every level deserve to know they are valuable enough to be given a fair race.'
Although activists who advocate for transgender individuals focus on the need for the public to accept and not discriminate against those who experience gender dysphoria, they neglect a crucial issue—that much of what they’re arguing for is simply unfair. The 1970s bill Title IX was supposed to protect and promote women’s sports, but now the Biden administration and progressive zealots are using it to do the exact opposite—they’re taking opportunities from women and girls and subjecting them to literal danger in the name of wokeness.
There have been multiple serious injuries suffered by females at the hands of biological males, and for years we’ve been made aware of the serious problem of domestic abuse, most often in the form of husbands beating their wives. Yet, on the playing field, those concerns have seemingly been forgotten. I could pick from a list of a hundred stories, but here are just two:
Female Volleyball Player Injured by Transgender Athlete Speaks out, Still Experiencing Symptoms
Transgender Rugby Player Allegedly Injured Female Athletes
The dudes playing women’s sports trend has grown markedly in recent years, with people who were born male entering women’s rugby, cycling, weightlifting, swimming contests—even poker tournaments. They keep pushing this on us, but the reality is that a huge percentage of Americans don't think men should be allowed to play women's sports.
Why? Because it’s wrong, plain and simple. I don’t need to go into a whole biology lesson to explain that men's and women’s bodies are different, and I would no more challenge a fifth-grader to a wrestling match than I would take on my wife in a boxing bout. This is in no way meant to demean women, but the obvious reality to anyone with a brain is that such competitions are inherently unfair.
Good for these swimmers on the Roanoke College women’s swim team, and good for Riley Gaines. It’s far past time that people stop accepting this damnation and instead start speaking out.
